This is the End My Hurricane Friends...

I tend to think in terms of song lyrics, and with the awful news about my beloved Canes, the great Doors work comes to mind.

Last May, there was a small article in the Herald about a ponzi schemer named Shapiro. He was being sentenced to 20 years in Federal prison, and he claimed he was writing a tell all book about his involvement with the football program.

We all sloughed it off...no one I knew heard of the guy, and it appeared he was just a bitter felon looking for some local notoriety...

Well, we learned yesterday it appears to all be true. It turns out that, for most of the decade, starting in 2000, the Canes program was something out of a Carl Hiassen novel. This guy Shapiro had a mansion and yacht, and gave money to the program (legitimately) but also got hookers and money and abortions for the players and their bitches, to use the correct term...

And, he apparently did it for over 70 players, including most of the current starters!

If proven, this will mean the "Death Penalty" for the program --what happened to SMU 30 years ago...

The truth is (apparently despite Shapiro's dirty gifts) the program was in decline. After the last regular season loss to South Florida, where the players quit, I left the stadium thinking I was giving up my tickets for the first time in 31 years. The Canes were then embarrased in a bowl game against hated Notre Dame, and I was even more resolute in my revulsion.

And then --a new, young, energetic coach was hired: Al Golden. A tough Italian from Penn State. He brought his best buddy, Mark D'Onofrio, to coach defense. I remember THAT guy --he played against the Canes with a broken arm! And then Golden hired a brainy Jewish guy, Jedd Fisch, to coach the offense.

Things were looking up. There was optimism. I ran into a legendary assistant coach, Art Kehoe, who had been hired back by Golden. Kehoe is my age, and had seen it all. He pointed to Golden, waiting to be introduced at a basketball game, and said "He's the best we've ever had. Just watch."

I was re-energized as a fan. I bought tickets to 2 away games (Maryland and FSU) as well as renewing my tickets. The season tickets just arrived last week, and I brought them home from my office last night.

And now it clearly looks like the end.

But, I have my memories. They can't take that away from me...

Danny Miller kicking a last second field goal to beat the Gators in '81, and Barry and Eric and I nearly thowing ourselves down the stands in the Orange Bowl as we rejoiced.

The best game in history, in my opinion: the upset victory over Goliath Nebraska, for our first championship (4 more would follow, and it should really have been 6 more).

I'm not a big Van Halen fan, but as I look back, I recall one of their lyrics:

They were good times. DAMN good times...